We were across the street from them ... purposely choosing to separate ourselves ... partly so we would stand out more to the President when he arrived, and partly in fear of our safety.

They taunted from across the street ... and then they began to flood toward us with their hate-filled signs to fill in around where we were standing. They began to shout and yell insults ... we ignored them.

On the opposite side of Broad Street, Richmond's Finest, many officers of the Richmond Police Force, had observed it all since our arrival an hour earlier ... and at that time a number of them crossed the street and stood behind us, offering a barrier between us and the protesters.

A short time later all protesters were ordered back to their side of the street. They argued, they mocked ... and they were told they were harrassing us and it would cause civil unrest ... and the officers were ordered to get them away from us. The protesters angrily crossed back to their side of the street but shouted at the police ... and then directed their hatred at us. They shouted, they chanted, they banged drums and waved signs.

Three American patriots standing silently holding American flags to show President Bush that there were Americans who supported him.

Why did that threaten the anti-war protesters so much?

The police were wonderful ... and we thank them from the bottom of our hearts because we were truly afraid for our safety.

One officer walked over as we held the "Honk If You Support the Troops" sign and said, "Honk!"

Another police officer standing nearby leaned in and said, "There should be three of them ... and 3,000 of you."

Several officers overheard that one of us had lost a son in Iraq ... and later approached to express gratitude ... and one said he had served in Desert Storm ... and when I asked what branch of the military, he was so emotional he couldn't respond.

Meanwhile, the insanity from the other side continued. Their signs said:

And my personal favorite: "What do we want? Peace. When do we want it? Now."

I wondered what part of YOU'VE HAD NO BOMBS DROPPING ON YOUR HEAD FOR FIVE YEARS did they not get??

A Peace and Coalition person who looked to be in his 60s broke ranks and ran into the street, waving for others to follow. The police quickly quelled that situation but it could have gotten ugly.

As the President was leaving, the protesters swarmed in front of us ... and an old man standing directly in front of me stuck his middle finger in the air at the Presidential motorcade.

After the President left and as the police were leaving, the protesters surrounded us and shouted profanities in our faces, and one dem woman shouted to "Vote Democrat even if you don't like Webb. The Republicans want the draft. They ruin everything."

One hippie-looking middle-aged man said, "Know what your f*cking piece of cloth means to me?" And then he spit on a small flag he was holding, stuck it in his mouth, chewed it, then spat it out and turned it upside down.

These are the WEBB supporters. These are the Democrats.

These are the people who want to be in charge of our country, in charge of our safety against terrorism, in charge of policy.

God help us all.

We met up with blogger Flora McDonnell from United Conservatives who was able to stay for about an hour but had to leave before the President's arrival so she could go to work. There were also other Bush and Allen supporters who came and went. The news media was out in force and our group was interviewed by print and TV outlets. Richmond's WRIC TV-8 had a great report at 11:00 last night.

Three anti-war protesters thanked us as they left. One man said he was ashamed of the way his side was acting and said he admired the way we presented ourselves. A hippie-looking couple told us the same thing.

One chant we heard from the other side went, "This is what democracy looks like." I, too, am the face of democracy ... so why did the protesters want to intimidate me? Why ... did they feel so threatened?

Maybe they know it keeps good people from going out on the streets to show support because they don't want to deal with that type of situation.

Or ... perhaps they realize there are millions more like us waiting to go to the polls on November 7.

1 comment:

Shannon Skeens
said...

Hey Lynn, just wanted to say great blog. I hope next time you are in Richmond we can get together for a bit, you know without protesters between us. (haha)I love the pictures, great job, I admire you three.